Method and apparatus for providing node-based map matching

ABSTRACT

An approach is provided for node-based map matching. The approach involves processing probe data to sort a plurality of probe points according to sessions keys. The approach also involves selecting a subset of the plurality of probe points within a threshold distance of a node of a map representation of a transportation network. The approach further involves initiating a map matching of the probe points of each session key to the map representation by, for said each session key: (1) determining a closest probe point to the node; (2) determining another closest probe point to a neighboring node, wherein the neighboring node is connected to the node by at least one link; and (3) projecting the plurality of probe points between the closest probe point to the node and the another closest probe point to the neighboring node onto the link.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/618,954 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,209,083), filed Jun. 9, 2017, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Providing Node-Based Map Matching,” which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Traditionally, map-matchers (e.g., point-based map matchers) are used toprocess the probe points to identify the correct road or path on which aprobe device or vehicle is traveling, and to determine the device'slocation on that road or path. However, current map-matchers can oftenencounter issues of accuracy, scalability, and/or efficiency,particularly when processing high volumes of probe points (e.g.,millions of probe points). Therefore, service providers face significanttechnical challenges to improve map matching speed and reducecomputational resources used for map matching of probe data.

Some Example Embodiments

Therefore, there is a need for a node-based map matching of probe thatreduces computational resource requirements when compared to traditionalpoint-based map matchers.

According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method formap-matching probe data comprises processing the probe data to sort aplurality of probe points of the probe data into one or more locationtraces. The method also comprises selecting a subset of the plurality ofprobe points within a threshold distance of a node of a maprepresentation of a transportation network. The method further comprisesinitiating a map matching of each location trace of the one or morelocation traces to the map representation by, for said each locationtrace: (1) determining a closest probe point to the node; (2)determining another closest probe point to a neighboring node, whereinthe neighboring node is connected to the node by at least one link; and(3) projecting the plurality of probe points between the closest probepoint to the node and the another closest probe point to the neighboringnode onto the link to map match the plurality of probe points to thelink.

According to another embodiment, an apparatus for map-matching probedata comprises at least one processor, and at least one memory includingcomputer program code for one or more computer programs, the at leastone memory and the computer program code configured to, with the atleast one processor, cause, at least in part, the apparatus to processthe probe data to sort a plurality of probe points of the probe datainto one or more location traces. The apparatus is also caused to selecta subset of the plurality of probe points within a threshold distance ofa node of a map representation of a transportation network. Theapparatus is further caused to initiate a map matching of each locationtrace of the one or more location traces to the map representation by,for said each location trace: (1) determining a closest probe point tothe node; (2) determining another closest probe point to a neighboringnode, wherein the neighboring node is connected to the node by at leastone link; and (3) projecting the plurality of probe points between theclosest probe point to the node and the another closest probe point tothe neighboring node onto the link to map match the plurality of probepoints to the link.

According to another embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium formap matching probe data carries one or more sequences of one or moreinstructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause, atleast in part, an apparatus to process the probe data to sort aplurality of probe points of the probe data into one or more locationtraces. The apparatus is also caused to select a subset of the pluralityof probe points within a threshold distance of a node of a maprepresentation of a transportation network. The apparatus is furthercaused to initiate a map matching of each location trace of the one ormore location traces to the map representation by, for said eachlocation trace: (1) determining a closest probe point to the node; (2)determining another closest probe point to a neighboring node, whereinthe neighboring node is connected to the node by at least one link; and(3) projecting the plurality of probe points between the closest probepoint to the node and the another closest probe point to the neighboringnode onto the link to map match the plurality of probe points to thelink.

According to another embodiment, an apparatus for map matching probedata comprises means for processing the probe data to sort a pluralityof probe points of the probe data into one or more location traces. Theapparatus also comprises means for selecting a subset of the pluralityof probe points within a threshold distance of a node of a maprepresentation of a transportation network. The apparatus furthercomprises means for initiating a map matching of each location trace ofthe one or more location traces to the map representation by, for saideach location trace: (1) determining a closest probe point to the node;(2) determining another closest probe point to a neighboring node,wherein the neighboring node is connected to the node by at least onelink; and (3) projecting the plurality of probe points between theclosest probe point to the node and the another closest probe point tothe neighboring node onto the link to map match the plurality of probepoints to the link.

In addition, for various example embodiments of the invention, thefollowing is applicable: a method comprising facilitating a processingof and/or processing (1) data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at leastone signal, the (1) data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at least onesignal based, at least in part, on (or derived at least in part from)any one or any combination of methods (or processes) disclosed in thisapplication as relevant to any embodiment of the invention.

For various example embodiments of the invention, the following is alsoapplicable: a method comprising facilitating access to at least oneinterface configured to allow access to at least one service, the atleast one service configured to perform any one or any combination ofnetwork or service provider methods (or processes) disclosed in thisapplication.

For various example embodiments of the invention, the following is alsoapplicable: a method comprising facilitating creating and/orfacilitating modifying (1) at least one device user interface elementand/or (2) at least one device user interface functionality, the (1) atleast one device user interface element and/or (2) at least one deviceuser interface functionality based, at least in part, on data and/orinformation resulting from one or any combination of methods orprocesses disclosed in this application as relevant to any embodiment ofthe invention, and/or at least one signal resulting from one or anycombination of methods (or processes) disclosed in this application asrelevant to any embodiment of the invention.

For various example embodiments of the invention, the following is alsoapplicable: a method comprising creating and/or modifying (1) at leastone device user interface element and/or (2) at least one device userinterface functionality, the (1) at least one device user interfaceelement and/or (2) at least one device user interface functionalitybased at least in part on data and/or information resulting from one orany combination of methods (or processes) disclosed in this applicationas relevant to any embodiment of the invention, and/or at least onesignal resulting from one or any combination of methods (or processes)disclosed in this application as relevant to any embodiment of theinvention.

In various example embodiments, the methods (or processes) can beaccomplished on the service provider side or on the mobile device sideor in any shared way between service provider and mobile device withactions being performed on both sides.

For various example embodiments, the following is applicable: Anapparatus comprising means for performing the method of the claims.

Still other aspects, features, and advantages of the invention arereadily apparent from the following detailed description, simply byillustrating a number of particular embodiments and implementations,including the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. Theinvention is also capable of other and different embodiments, and itsseveral details can be modified in various obvious respects, all withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, thedrawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature,and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, andnot by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system capable of providing node-based mapmatching, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 2A-2D are diagrams illustrating example processes for providingnode-based map matching, according to various embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a geographic database, according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the components of a map matching platform,according to one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process for selecting probe data fornode-based map matching, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for node-based map matching,according to one embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for evaluating shared links betweenlocation points or nodes to facilitate node-based map matching,according to one embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a diagram of hardware that can be used to implement anembodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a chip set that can be used to implement anembodiment; and

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a mobile terminal (e.g., handset) that can beused to implement an embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS

Examples of a method, apparatus, and computer program for providingnode-based map matching are disclosed. In the following description, forthe purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of theinvention. It is apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that theembodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specificdetails or with an equivalent arrangement. In other instances,well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form inorder to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system capable of providing node-based mapmatching, according to one embodiment. Analysis of probe data consistingof location sensor data (e.g., Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) dataand other satellite-based location data) often forms the basis for manymapping and navigation related services. For example, probe dataanalytics generally is based on having probe points (e.g., collectedlocation points of probes traveling within a road network or othergeographic area) matched to digital map data to figure out where thoseprobes are on the road network. This analysis can then be used, forinstance, to determine traffic patterns, etc. for using in providingmapping and navigation services. To perform this map matching, mapmatchers can process raw location data (e.g., probe data comprisingprobe points of GPS or other location data) to identify the road, path,link, etc. on which a probe device (e.g., a vehicle, navigation device,mobile device, smartphone, etc.) is travelling, and to determine thelocation of the probe device on that identified road segment, link, etc.

Although map matchers have been used widely, the map matching problem isstill a challenge for the map making industry because map matching largeamounts of unsorted probe data in bulk currently takes significantcomputation time and resources, and can be expensive. Generally, thereare two types of traditional map matchers: (1) point-based map matchers,and (2) trajectory-based map matchers. For example, a point-based mapmatchers takes an individual GPS or probe point to match to the roadsegment or link based on, for instance, a maximum likelihood. On theother hand, a trajectory-based map matcher can produce more accurateresults by taking more information in the form of a sequence of GPS orprobe points (e.g., instead of a single probe point) and using a morecomplicated approach to map match the trajectory to a road segment.However, trajectory-based map matchers typically require a sequence ofprobe points to be captured over a period of time to create a trajectoryfor matching. Compared with a trajectory-based map matcher, apoint-based map matcher is fast, easy to implement and does not need alarge amount of memory. Therefore, point-based map matchers are moreadvantageous than trajectory-based map matchers for bulk dataprocessing.

However, traditional point-based map matchers nonetheless remainexpensive and time consuming, with trajectory-based map matchers evenmore resource intensive. For example, in one use case of developing atraffic pattern service or product, the service may require 3 years ofprobe data to be matched for the entire world to build the product.Using either traditional point-based map matching or trajectory-basedmap matching would require would require a very significant amount ofdata processing, thereby leading to significant resource consumption andexpenses for the underlying computing infrastructure (e.g., cloud-basedcomputing time using, e.g., Amazon Web Services (AWS) or equivalent). Inaddition, a traditional point-based map matcher considers every probepoint independently, which can potentially lower the quality of matches.A traditional trajectory-based map matcher can consider the routing ofthe GPS traces, but the traditional trajectory-based map matcher takesan even longer time and are more expensive than the traditionalpoint-based map matcher. By considering time and quality, a traditionalpoint-based map matcher often has historically been selected the as thebest choice for bulk data processing. Since the scale of data is huge inmany uses case (e.g., 3 years of probe data can include millions ofprobe points), any small improvement in processing time may bebeneficial.

To address this problem, the system 100 of FIG. 1 introduces anode-based map matcher to improve processing speed over a traditionalpoint-based map matcher. For example, for a long link (e.g., a road ortravel segment), there can many probes collecting probe points along thelink. In one embodiment, if the system 100 knows the start of the probetrace (e.g., a set of probe points collected by the same probe during asingle travel session) is matched to the start node of the link and theend of the probe trace is matched to the end of the link, then thesystem 100 knows all the middle probe points in the probe trace shouldbelong to the link without having to consider or process any possibilityto match against other neighboring links. In contrast, becausepoint-based map matchers map each probe point independently, atraditional point-based map matcher would still try to figure out whatis the best link to match even for these middle probe points, therebyusing more computational results and taking more time than theembodiments of the node-based map matching approached described herein.In other words, the speed improvement of the embodiments describedherein comes from not having to execute a matching algorithm on theprobe points in the middle of a link. Accordingly, the magnitude of thespeed improvement increases with the size of each probe trace or link,with longer links or traces exhibiting greater potential speedimprovements.

In one embodiment, a “node” refers to a point in the map where there aremore than two links connected. For example, with respect to atraditional node-link map representation, nodes exist at roadintersections, splits, merges, and/or other similar features. However,it is also contemplated that the embodiments described here areapplicable to any location point (e.g., not necessarily nodes orintersection points) occurring along a link of a transportation network.In other words, location points can include any point along a linkregardless of whether there are more than two connecting links (e.g.,location points can include points with only one or two links). By wayof example, a link refers to a road or travel segment between two nodesor location points. Although various embodiments are discussed withrespect to nodes, it is contemplated that the embodiments of node-basedmap matching described herein are also applicable to location points ingeneral.

In one embodiment, the embodiments of node-based map matching describedherein can be used with a tile-based representation of a digital map.For example, the system 100 can begin node-based map matching bystarting at a selected map tile (e.g., a map tile at zoom level 14, withthe starting zoom level being optimizable and configurable depending onavailable computing resources). In another embodiment, when not using atile-based map representation, the system 100 can select any startinggeographic area to begin map matching. Once the starting map tile orgeographic area is selected, the system 100 collects probe data to bemap matched within the selected tile or data.

In one embodiment, the system 100 processes the probe data to sort theprobe points included therein into sessions or location tracesindicating respective individual travel events or trips. The locationtraces or sessions groups the probe points as a sequence of probe pointscorresponding to a route or path traveled by the collecting probe. Byway of example, in one embodiment, the probe data contains provider nameand/or session identification. The system 100 can use these twovariables to form a unique session key for each probe point in the probedata. The system 100 can then sort the probe data by session key, andtimestamp. As a result, each session key contains list of probes sortedby timestamp, and corresponds to an individual location trace orsession.

In one embodiment, the system 100 (e.g., via a map matching platform101) performs node-base map matching using a stepwise approach based onthe nodes and links within the selected map tile or geographic area. Toinitiate this stepwise approach, the system 100 can retrieve or preparemap data containing nodes (or location points) and links of the portionof a transportation network falling within the spatial boundaries of theselected map tile or geographic area. By way of example, the map datacan be retrieved from a geographic database 103 and can includeinformation to determine spatial relationships and connections betweenthe nodes and links (e.g., which links connect to which nodes orlocation points).

For every node in the selected map tile or geographic area, the system100 select probe points within a search radius (e.g., a circular searchradius R). In one embodiment, the search radius R can be a static R,e.g., set at ˜30 m or any other value, for all nodes. In otherembodiments, the system 100 can determine a dynamic search radius R foreach node based on parameters such as location sensor accuracy, roaddensity, urban/rural, presence of tall buildings which may block GPSsignals, number of available probe points, and/or any other featuresthat can affect the distance threshold for matching to each node orlocation point.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of selecting probe pointsbased on a distance threshold (e.g., the search radius R) to facilitatenode-based map matching, according to one embodiment. As shown, a set ofprobe points 201 includes probe points from three separate sessions orlocation traces (e.g., respectively represented by session keys “s”,“t”, and “u”). In one embodiment, each probe point can be identifiedusing the session key or any other unique identifier for each locationtrace, and a unique number corresponding to each probe point (e.g.,incremented integer value). Using this probe point notation, thesessions s, t, and u consists of: (1) probe points s₁-s₃ with respectivelocations indicated by “+” symbols, (2) probe points t₁-t₄ withrespective locations indicated by “x” symbols, and (3) probe pointsu₁-u₃ with respective locations indicated by “o” symbols. In oneembodiment, the system 100 can use any efficient data structure torepresent the set of probe points 201 and their spatial information(e.g., a spatial index).

In one embodiment, the system 100 uses a search radius 203 (e.g., eithera predetermined or dynamic distance threshold) surrounding a node orlocation point of interest (e.g., node 205) to select the probe pointsfrom the set 201 for evaluation. In the example of FIG. 2A, this resultsin selecting probe points s₂, s₃, t₁, t₂, u₁, u₂, and u₃ for evaluation.In one embodiment, for the selected probe points within the searchradius of every node, the system 100 determines the closest probe pointfrom each session or location trace (e.g., session keys s, t, and u) tothe node so that there is chosen only one probe point for each sessionkey for each node. In this example, the closest probe point from eachsession to the node 205 are: (1) probe point s₃ of session s, (2) probepoint t₁ of session t, and (3) probe point u₂ of session U. In oneembodiment, the system 100 stores the association between every node andthe closest probe point from each session key in the geographic database103 or other equivalent database using any data structure that canrepresent the relationship between the closest probe point and thecorresponding node. The system 100 can continue processing each node inthe selected map tile or geographic area to determine the closest probepoints from each detected session to each node, thereby, creating a listof closest probe points for each node.

In one embodiment, for each node, the system 100 evaluates the list ofclosest probe points for that individual node. This evaluation includes,for instance, for each closest probe point from each session key, thesystem 100 determines any neighboring nodes that also have a closestprobe point from the same session (e.g., based on the session key). Inone embodiment, a neighboring node or location point shares a connectinglink with node being evaluated. In some embodiments, the sharedconnecting link between the node and its neighboring can be multipleadjacent links that form a path between the two nodes. In yet anotherembodiment, the system 100 may allow multiple adjacent connecting linksonly if the adjacent links when those links form the only possible path(e.g., based on maneuvering data such as allowed or legal turns,directions of travel, etc.) between the two links.

FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of finding a neighboringnode with common probe session key, according to one embodiment. In theexample of FIG. 2B, the system 100 is evaluating a node 211 with aclosest probe s₁ from a session s to find any neighboring nodes with thesame session key s. If there is no neighboring node, the system 100proceeds to the next session or location trace associated with the node211. If there are no more sessions for the node 211, the system 100proceeds to the next node. In this example, the system 100 finds aneighboring node 213 (e.g., connected to the node 211 via a link 215)that also has a closest probe point from the session s (e.g., probepoint s₇).

If there is only one neighboring node (e.g., as is the case with theexample of FIG. 2B), the system 100 can project any probe points fromthe same session occurring between the node and it's single neighboringnode to the link between the nodes. In other words, by projecting, thesystem 100 simply assigns the middle probe points as being matched tothe link between the node and its neighboring without having to expendfurther computing resources to individually compare or use traditionalmap matching for those middle points, thereby advantageously improvingcomputation speed and reducing computation resources when compared totraditional map matching processes.

FIG. 2C continues the example of FIG. 2C to illustrate an example ofthis node-based projection or map matching process followingidentification of a neighboring node, according to one embodiment. Asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 2B, node 213 is found to be aneighboring node to node 211 with respect to session s (e.g., closestprobe point s1 to node 211 and closest probe point s7 to node 213).Accordingly, the system 100 retrieves the middle probe points (e.g.,probe points s₂ to s₆) to complete the entire set of probe points fromsession s that are located between nodes 211 and 213 (e.g., probe pointss₁ to s₇), and projects them to the link 215 to perform node-based mapmatching. In one embodiment, projecting includes transforming the sensedlocation of the probe point (e.g., coordinates of the probe pointdetermined from a location sensor of the probe) so that the resultingmap matched coordinates fall on the link onto which probe point isprojected at a location along the link that is relative to the sensedlocation of the probe point. In one embodiment, if the projectedposition of probe point is the outside of the boundaries of a link, theprobe point is not included in the projection or marked as “matched”.These points can then be matched using other map matching processesknown in the art (e.g., a traditional point-based map matcher).

In one embodiment, if there are more than two neighboring nodes thathave the same session key, the system 100 can choose two nodes that havea longer time differences between the timestamp of the node in theiteration and the timestamp of the neighboring node. From the twoidentified nodes, the system 100 can get the two links between the nodeof interest and each of the two identified nodes and project all probepoints within the time window of two neighboring nodes onto the twolinks.

FIG. 2D illustrates an example use case of node-based map matching whenthere are more than two neighboring nodes, according to one embodiment.In the example of FIG. 2D, a node 221 is being evaluated to determineneighboring nodes 223-227 that also have closest probe points associatedwith a common session or location trace (e.g., as indicated by a sharedsession key). In this case, the probe points s₁-s₈ are part of a commonlocation trace or session s. The closest probe point to the node 211that is being evaluated is probe point s₄. As shown, three neighboringnodes 223-227 also have closest probe points from session s (e.g., probepoint s₁ for neighboring node 223, probe point s₈ for neighboring node225, and probe point s₅ for neighboring node 227).

In this case, because there are more than two neighboring nodes, thesystem 100 selects exactly two neighboring nodes from among the morethan two neighboring nodes (e.g., three neighboring nodes 223-227) basedon maximizing a time window covered by the respective probe points. Forexample, the probe points s₁-s₈ are arranged in chronological order. Asa result, the time window between the probe point s1 of node 223 andprobe point s₈ of node 225 is greater than either the time windowsbetween nodes 223 and 227, and between nodes 227 and 225. Therefore, thesystem 100 selects neighboring nodes 223 and 225 to complete thenode-based map matching according to the embodiments described herein.

In one embodiment, the system 100 then identifies the link 229connecting the first selected neighboring node 223 and the evaluatednode 221, and the link 231 connecting the evaluated node 221 to thesecond selected neighboring node 225. All of the probe points failingwithin the time window spanning the selected neighboring nodes 221 and225 (e.g., probe points s1-s8) are then projected on to the links 229and 231 to complete the node-based map matching for this road or travelsegment. As discussed above, the projection of the probe points iscomputationally faster and less resource intensive that individually mapmatching each individual probe point using, e.g., a traditionalpoint-based map matcher.

In one embodiment, the system 100 can remove the projected probe pointsfrom the probe list and/or mark them as “matched”. If the projectedposition is the outside of the link, don't mark as “matched”. By way ofexample, any probe points remaining on the probe list followingiterating over all nodes or location points in the selected map tile orgeographic area can then be map matched using other map matching meansknown in the art.

Because the system 100 performs the various embodiments of node-basedmap matching described herein on a node-by-node basis, there is apotential to create gaps between nodes where node-based map matchingcannot be performed. By way of example, this can occur in situationsincluding, but not limited to: (1) no immediate neighboring node withthe same session key is found, but the session key is found insubsequent nodes; (2) there are multiple connecting links between twonodes so that a unique path cannot be determined; and/or the like.

To address this problem, the system 100 can further process the dataassociating each node with its respective closest probe points from eachidentified session or location trace. For example, from the probe datasorted according to session key or location trace, the system 100iterates over each session key. More specifically, for every session keyor location trace identified in the probe data, the system 100 collectsa list of nodes that have the matched session key.

In one embodiment, the system 100 then orders the nodes according to thetimestamp data associated with the closest probe points of the matchedsession key. This ordering, for instance, sorts the list of nodesaccording to a chronological order in which the probe vehicle or devicetraveled through the nodes. The system 100 then traverses or loops overthe ordered nodes to find a node that has only two links connected. Incontrast, if there are multiple links connected to that node, it may notbe obvious which link the probe vehicle or device actually traveled. Ifthere is no node with only two links connected, the system 100 can useany other map matching process known in the art to match the probepoints for the current session key, and move to the next session key.

If there is a node which has exactly two links connected, then thesystem uses that node as a starting point for traversing the orderedlist of node. For example, the system 100 can start from that node andtravel forward or backward to find the other edge of an adjacent nodethat shares a same link.

If two nodes that share a connecting a link are found, the system 100collects probe points located between the two adjacent nodes andprojects the probe points to the link. This projection results in mapmatching the probe points to the link. They system 100 then marks theprojected probe points as “used” or with any other label indicating thatthose points have already been projected or matched to a link.

If there are no adjacent nodes that share a connecting link, but thereis a node in the ordered list of nodes that has earlier timestamp thanthe current node of interest, then the system 100 infers that there is agap between the current node and the earlier node. In one embodiment,the system 100 can use any routing algorithm known in the art todetermining a route (e.g., identify nodes and links) spanning the gapbetween the current node and the earlier node. In addition oralternatively, the system 100 can collect the probe points occurring inthe gap, and then apply any other map matching process known in the artto map match those points (e.g., a traditional point-based map matcher).

The system 100 then moves to session key of the node. If there is noadditional session key for the node, the system 100 moves to the nextnode and repeats the same procedure until the iteration reaches to theend of node list. In one embodiment, if there are any unmatched orunused probe points with the session key that remains after theiteration, and those unmatched probe points have timestamps earlier thanthe timestamps of the probe points associated with an end node of theordered list of nodes, the system 100 can apply any map matching processknown in the art on those probe points to match them to the digital map.Whenever probe points for the probe list are map-matched by either thevarious embodiments of the node-based map matching process describedherein or other map matching processes known in the art, the system 100can mark the matched probes as “used” or any other similar flag orindicator, so that the system 100 can avoid using the matched probepoints in again in later steps.

In one embodiment, the system 100 can iterate or traverse the sortedlist of nodes for each session key directionally from the determinedstarting node (e.g., node with exactly two links connected). Forexample, the system 100 can first traverse backwards in chronologicalorder from the starting node until the beginning of the node list, andthen traverse forward from the starting node to the end of the node listin similar manner. In one embodiment, when the system 100 reaches theend of the node list, the probe points occurring later than the end nodeand/or any remaining probe points that are not marked as “used” arematched using any other map matcher known in the art (e.g., atraditional point-based map matcher).

In one embodiment, the unmatched probe points may be indicative of newor changes in the geometry of the road or transportation network.Accordingly, instead of or in addition to attempting to map match usingother means, the system 100 can pass the remaining set of unmatchedprobe points to another component of a map data generation pipeline todetermine whether the unmatched probe points indicate a new road segmentthat should be mapped in the geographic database 103 as a new node orlink record. By way of example, the probe points can be processed usingany known method for determining a new link including, but not limited,to clustering, trajectory analysis, imagery analysis of the area,dispatch of a mapping vehicles or crews, etc.

By way of example, the various embodiments of the node-based mapmatching process described herein have several technical advantages overtraditional point-based map matchers. For example, the speed or timingimprovements from node-based map matching increases with the number ofprobes to be processed. Accordingly, when bulk processing millions ofprobe points, even small speed increases in processing time can resultin significant improvements in computational speed compared withprocessing the same number of probe points using traditional point-basedmap matchers. In addition, because the embodiments described herein alsoconsider time sequences of probe points when performing node-based mapmatching, the quality of matches can also be improved over traditionalpoint-based map matchers. This quality, for instance, can approach thequality of traditional trajectory-based map matchers while improvingcomputational speed and reducing computational resource requirements.

Returning to FIG. 1, as shown, the system 100 comprises one or morevehicles 105 a-105 n (also collectively referred to as vehicles 105)and/or one or more user equipment (UE) devices 107 that act as probestraveling over a road network (e.g., the transportation network 109).Although the vehicles 105 are depicted as automobiles, it iscontemplated that the vehicles 105 can be any type of transportationvehicle, manned or unmanned (e.g., planes, aerial drone vehicles, motorcycles, boats, bicycles, etc.), and the UE 107 can be associated withany of the types of vehicles or a person or thing (e.g., a pedestrian)traveling within the transportation network 109. In one embodiment, eachvehicle 105 and/or UE 107 is assigned a unique probe identifier (probeID) for use in reporting or transmitting probe data collected by thevehicles 105 and UE 107. The vehicles 105 and UE 107, for instance, arepart of a probe-based system for collecting probe data for measuringtraffic conditions in a road network. In one embodiment, each vehicle105 and/or UE 107 is configured to report probe data as probe points,which are individual data records collected at a point in time thatrecords telemetry data for that point in time. The probe points can bereported from the vehicles 105 and/or UEs 107 in real-time, in batches,continuously, or at any other frequency requested by the system 100over, for instance, the communication network 111 for processing by themap matching platform 101.

In one embodiment, a probe point can include attributes such as: sessionkey, data provider, probe ID, longitude, latitude, speed, and/or time.The list of attributes is provided by way of illustration and notlimitation. Accordingly, it is contemplated that any combination ofthese attributes or other attributes may be recorded as a probe point(e.g., such as those previously discussed above). For example,attributes such as altitude (e.g., for flight capable vehicles or fortracking non-flight vehicles in the altitude domain), tilt, steeringangle, wiper activation, etc. can be included and reported for a probepoint. In one embodiment, if the probe point data includes altitudeinformation, the transportation network, links, etc. can also be pathsthrough an airspace (e.g., to track aerial drones, planes, other aerialvehicles, etc.), or paths that follow the contours or heights of a roadnetwork (e.g., heights of different ramps, bridges, or other overlappingroad features).

In one embodiment, the vehicles 105 and/or UE 107 may include sensorsfor reporting measuring and/or reporting attributes. The attributes canalso be any attribute normally collected by an on-board diagnostic (OBD)system of the vehicle, and available through an interface to the OBDsystem (e.g., OBD II interface or other similar interface).

In one embodiment, the system 100 can sort probe points according tolocation traces or trajectories using probe provider information and/orprobe identifier (probe ID) information associated with the probe data.For example, the system 100 groups probe points into common sessions(e.g., identified using a session key) that represent individual tripsof probe data collection sessions. The sessions can be identified bymatching or grouping the probe points in the probe data according toprobe identifier and sequencing the probe points according to time.

In one embodiment, the map matching platform 101 performs the processesfor node-based map matching of probe data as discussed with respect tothe various embodiments described herein. By way of example, the mappingplatform 107 can be a standalone server or a component of another devicewith connectivity to the communication network 111. For example, thecomponent can be part of an edge computing network where remotecomputing devices (not shown) are installed along or within proximity ofthe transportation network 109 to provide point-based map matching ofprobe data collected locally or within a local area served by the remoteor edge computing device.

In one embodiment, the map matching platform 101 has connectivity oraccess to a geographic database 103 that includes mapping data about aroad network, including but not limited to the nodes/location points andlinks comprising the network (additional description of the geographicdatabase 103 is provided below with respect to FIG. 4). In oneembodiment, the probe data, map matching results, and/or relatedinformation can also be stored in the geographic database 103 by the mapmatching platform 101. In addition or alternatively, the probe data canbe stored by another component of the system 100 in the geographicdatabase 103 for subsequent retrieval and processing by the map matchingplatform 101.

In one embodiment, the vehicles 105 and/or UE 107 may execute anapplication 113 to present or use the results of node-based map matchinggenerated by the map matching platform 101 according to the embodimentsdescribed herein. For example, if the application 113 is a navigationapplication then the node-based map matching results can be used todetermine positioning information, routing information, provide updatedestimated times of arrival (ETAs), and the like.

By way of example, the UE 107 is any type of embedded system, mobileterminal, fixed terminal, or portable terminal including a built-innavigation system, a personal navigation device, mobile handset,station, unit, device, multimedia computer, multimedia tablet, Internetnode, communicator, desktop computer, laptop computer, notebookcomputer, netbook computer, tablet computer, personal communicationsystem (PCS) device, personal digital assistants (PDAs), audio/videoplayer, digital camera/camcorder, positioning device, fitness device,television receiver, radio broadcast receiver, electronic book device,game device, or any combination thereof, including the accessories andperipherals of these devices, or any combination thereof. It is alsocontemplated that the UE 107 can support any type of interface to theuser (such as “wearable” circuitry, etc.). In one embodiment, the UE 107may be associated with a vehicle 105 (e.g., cars), a component part ofthe vehicle 105, a mobile device (e.g., phone), and/or a combination ofthereof. Similarly, the vehicle 105 may include computing componentsthat can perform all or a portion of the functions of the UE 107.

By way of example, the application 113 may be any type of applicationthat is executable at the vehicle 105 and/or the UE 107, such as mappingapplications, location-based service applications, navigationapplications, content provisioning services, camera/imaging application,media player applications, social networking applications, calendarapplications, and the like. In one embodiment, the application 113 mayact as a client for the map matching platform 101 and perform one ormore functions of the map matching platform 101 alone or in combinationwith the platform 101.

In one embodiment, the vehicles 105 and/or the UE 107 are configuredwith various sensors for generating probe data. By way of example, thesensors may include a global positioning sensor for gathering locationdata (e.g., GPS), Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) for gatheringdistance data and/or generating depth maps, infrared sensors for thermalimagery, a network detection sensor for detecting wireless signals orreceivers for different short-range communications (e.g., Bluetooth,Wi-Fi, Li-Fi, near field communication (NFC) etc.), temporal informationsensors, a camera/imaging sensor for gathering image data (e.g., thecamera sensors may automatically capture obstruction for analysis anddocumentation purposes), an audio recorder for gathering audio data,velocity sensors mounted on steering wheels of the vehicles, switchsensors for determining whether one or more vehicle switches areengaged, and the like.

In another embodiment, the sensors of the vehicles 105 and/or UE 107 mayinclude light sensors, orientation sensors augmented with height sensorsand acceleration sensor (e.g., an accelerometer can measure accelerationand can be used to determine orientation of the vehicle), tilt sensorsto detect the degree of incline or decline of the vehicle along a pathof travel, moisture sensors, pressure sensors, etc. In a further exampleembodiment, sensors about the perimeter of the vehicle may detect therelative distance of the vehicle from lane or roadways, the presence ofother vehicles, pedestrians, traffic lights, potholes and any otherobjects, or a combination thereof. In one scenario, the sensors maydetect weather data, traffic information, or a combination thereof.These data, for instance, can also be reported as probe data. In oneexample embodiment, the vehicles 105 and/or UE 107 may include GPSreceivers to obtain geographic coordinates from satellites 115 fordetermining current location and time associated with the vehicle 105and/or UE 107 for generating probe data. Further, the location can bedetermined by a triangulation system such as A-GPS, Cell of Origin, orother location extrapolation technologies.

The communication network 111 of system 100 includes one or morenetworks such as a data network, a wireless network, a telephonynetwork, or any combination thereof. It is contemplated that the datanetwork may be any local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network(MAN), wide area network (WAN), a public data network (e.g., theInternet), short range wireless network, or any other suitablepacket-switched network, such as a commercially owned, proprietarypacket-switched network, e.g., a proprietary cable or fiber-opticnetwork, and the like, or any combination thereof. In addition, thewireless network may be, for example, a cellular network and may employvarious technologies including enhanced data rates for global evolution(EDGE), general packet radio service (GPRS), global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS),universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), etc., as well as anyother suitable wireless medium, e.g., worldwide interoperability formicrowave access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, codedivision multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access(WCDMA), wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), wireless LAN (WLAN), Bluetooth®,Internet Protocol (IP) data casting, satellite, mobile ad-hoc network(MANET), and the like, or any combination thereof.

In one embodiment, the map matching platform 101 may be a platform withmultiple interconnected components. The map matching platform 101 mayinclude multiple servers, intelligent networking devices, computingdevices, components and corresponding software for providing trajectorybundles for map data analysis. In addition, it is noted that the mappingplatform 107 may be a separate entity of the system 100, a part of oneor more services 117 a-117 m (collectively referred to as services 117)of the services platform 117, or included within the UE 107 (e.g., aspart of the applications 113).

The services platform 119 may include any type of service 117. By way ofexample, the services 117 may include mapping services, navigationservices, traffic monitoring services, travel planning services,notification services, social networking services, content (e.g., audio,video, images, etc.) provisioning services, application services,storage services, contextual information determination services,location based services, information based services (e.g., weather,news, etc.), etc. In one embodiment, the services platform 119 mayinteract with the map matching platform 101, the vehicle 105, the UE107, and/or one or more content providers 121 a-121 k (also collectivelyreferred to as content providers 121) to provide the services 117, forinstance, based on node-based map matching results generated by the mapmatching platform 101.

In one embodiment, the content providers 121 may provide content or datato the vehicles 105 and/or UEs 107, the map matching platform 101,and/or the services 117. The content provided may be any type ofcontent, such as mapping content, textual content, audio content, videocontent, image content, etc. In one embodiment, the content providers121 may provide content that may aid in the point-based map matchingusing a machine learning approach according to the various embodimentsdescribed herein. In one embodiment, the content providers 121 may alsostore content associated with the vehicles 105, the UE 107, the mapmatching platform 101, and/or the services 117. In another embodiment,the content providers 121 may manage access to a central repository ofdata, and offer a consistent, standard interface to data, such as arepository of probe data, probe features/attributes, linkfeatures/attributes, etc. Any known or still developing methods,techniques or processes for retrieving and/or accessing feature valuesfor probe points and/or road links from one or more sources may beemployed by the map matching platform 101.

By way of example, the vehicles 105, the UEs 107, the map matchingplatform 101, the services platform 119, and/or the content providers121 communicate with each other and other components of the system 100using well known, new or still developing protocols. In this context, aprotocol includes a set of rules defining how the network nodes withinthe communication network 111 interact with each other based oninformation sent over the communication links. The protocols areeffective at different layers of operation within each node, fromgenerating and receiving physical signals of various types, to selectinga link for transferring those signals, to the format of informationindicated by those signals, to identifying which software applicationexecuting on a computer system sends or receives the information. Theconceptually different layers of protocols for exchanging informationover a network are described in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI)Reference Model.

Communications between the network nodes are typically effected byexchanging discrete packets of data. Each packet typically comprises (1)header information associated with a particular protocol, and (2)payload information that follows the header information and containsinformation that may be processed independently of that particularprotocol. In some protocols, the packet includes (3) trailer informationfollowing the payload and indicating the end of the payload information.The header includes information such as the source of the packet, itsdestination, the length of the payload, and other properties used by theprotocol. Often, the data in the payload for the particular protocolincludes a header and payload for a different protocol associated with adifferent, higher layer of the OSI Reference Model. The header for aparticular protocol typically indicates a type for the next protocolcontained in its payload. The higher layer protocol is said to beencapsulated in the lower layer protocol. The headers included in apacket traversing multiple heterogeneous networks, such as the Internet,typically include a physical (layer 1) header, a data-link (layer 2)header, an internetwork (layer 3) header and a transport (layer 4)header, and various application (layer 5, layer 6 and layer 7) headersas defined by the OSI Reference Model.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the geographic database 103 of system 100,according to exemplary embodiments. In the exemplary embodiments, POIsand map generated POIs data can be stored, associated with, and/orlinked to the geographic database 103 or data thereof. In oneembodiment, the geographic database 103 includes geographic data 301used for (or configured to be compiled to be used for) mapping and/ornavigation-related services, such as for personalized routedetermination, according to exemplary embodiments. For example, thegeographic database 103 includes node data records 303, road segment orlink data records 305, POI data records 307, probe data records 309, andother data records 311, for example. More, fewer or different datarecords can be provided. In one embodiment, the other data records 311include cartographic (“carto”) data records, routing data, and maneuverdata. One or more portions, components, areas, layers, features, text,and/or symbols of the POI or event data can be stored in, linked to,and/or associated with one or more of these data records. For example,one or more portions of the POI, event data, or recorded routeinformation can be matched with respective map or geographic records viaposition or GPS data associations (such as using the point-based mapmatching embodiments describes herein), for example.

In one embodiment, geographic features (e.g., two-dimensional orthree-dimensional features) are represented using polygons (e.g.,two-dimensional features) or polygon extrusions (e.g., three-dimensionalfeatures). For example, the edges of the polygons correspond to theboundaries or edges of the respective geographic feature. In the case ofa building, a two-dimensional polygon can be used to represent afootprint of the building, and a three-dimensional polygon extrusion canbe used to represent the three-dimensional surfaces of the building. Itis contemplated that although various embodiments are discussed withrespect to two-dimensional polygons, it is contemplated that theembodiments are also applicable to three dimensional polygon extrusions,models, routes, etc. Accordingly, the terms polygons and polygonextrusions/models as used herein can be used interchangeably.

In one embodiment, the following terminology applies to therepresentation of geographic features in the geographic database 103.

“Node”—A point that terminates a link.

“Line segment”—A straight line connecting two points.

“Link” (or “edge”)—A contiguous, non-branching string of one or moreline segments terminating in a node at each end.

“Shape point”—A point along a link between two nodes (e.g., used toalter a shape of the link without defining new nodes).

“Oriented link”—A link that has a starting node (referred to as the“reference node”) and an ending node (referred to as the “non referencenode”).

“Simple polygon”—An interior area of an outer boundary formed by astring of oriented links that begins and ends in one node. In oneembodiment, a simple polygon does not cross itself.

“Polygon”—An area bounded by an outer boundary and none or at least oneinterior boundary (e.g., a hole or island). In one embodiment, a polygonis constructed from one outer simple polygon and none or at least oneinner simple polygon. A polygon is simple if it just consists of onesimple polygon, or complex if it has at least one inner simple polygon.

In one embodiment, the geographic database 103 follows certainconventions. For example, links do not cross themselves and do not crosseach other except at a node or vertex. Also, there are no duplicatedshape points, nodes, or links. Two links that connect each other have acommon node or vertex. In the geographic database 103, overlappinggeographic features are represented by overlapping polygons. Whenpolygons overlap, the boundary of one polygon crosses the boundary ofthe other polygon. In the geographic database 103, the location at whichthe boundary of one polygon intersects they boundary of another polygonis represented by a node. In one embodiment, a node may be used torepresent other locations along the boundary of a polygon than alocation at which the boundary of the polygon intersects the boundary ofanother polygon. In one embodiment, a shape point is not used torepresent a point at which the boundary of a polygon intersects theboundary of another polygon.

In exemplary embodiments, the road segment data records 305 are links orsegments representing roads, streets, or paths, as can be used in thecalculated route or recorded route information for determination of oneor more personalized routes, according to exemplary embodiments. Thenode data records 303 are end points or vertices corresponding to therespective links or segments of the road segment data records 305. Theroad link data records 305 and the node data records 303 represent aroad network, such as used by vehicles, cars, and/or other entities.Alternatively, the geographic database 103 can contain path segment andnode data records or other data that represent pedestrian paths or areasin addition to or instead of the vehicle road record data, for example.In one embodiment, the road or path segments can include an altitudecomponent to extend to paths or road into three-dimensional space (e.g.,to cover changes in altitude and contours of different map features,and/or to cover paths traversing a three-dimensional airspace).

The road/link segments and nodes can be associated with attributes, suchas geographic coordinates, street names, address ranges, speed limits,turn restrictions at intersections, and other navigation relatedattributes, as well as POIs, such as gasoline stations, hotels,restaurants, museums, stadiums, offices, automobile dealerships, autorepair shops, buildings, stores, parks, etc. The geographic database 103can include data about the POIs and their respective locations in thePOI data records 307. The geographic database 103 can also include dataabout places, such as cities, towns, or other communities, and othergeographic features, such as bodies of water, mountain ranges, etc. Suchplace or feature data can be part of the POI data records 307 or can beassociated with POIs or POI data records 307 (such as a data point usedfor displaying or representing a position of a city). In addition, thegeographic database 103 can include data from radio advertisementsassociated with the POI data records 307 and their respective locationsin the radio generated POI records 309.

In one embodiment, the geographic database 103 includes probe datarecords 309 which store probe point data, session keys, location traces,associations between nodes and respective closest probe points orsessions keys, node lists, and/or any other information used orgenerated by the map matching platform 101 to provide node-based mapmatching according to the various embodiments. For example, the probedata records 309 can store collected probe point data for map matchingin a spatial index or other data structure that records spatialinformation and relationships of the probe points.

In one embodiment, to begin bulk node-based map matching (e.g., bulkprocessing of millions of probe point records), a spatial index for allprobe points in a given area of the map (e.g., an area corresponding toa selected map tile or geographic) that is currently being processed. Byway of example, the spatial index data structure can be based on anystructure including, but not limited to: Kd-trees, R-trees, andQuadtrees. Each of the types of structures may have advantages anddisadvantages with respect to node-based map matching, and the mapmatching platform 101 can balance these advantages/disadvantages toselect an appropriate data structure. For example, with respect toKd-trees, the advantages are that implementation can be simple, andindexing time can be extremely fast; while disadvantages are that thisresults in an unbalanced tree, unless sorting of input is precomputed,which can slow query times on non-uniform data. With respect to R-trees,the advantages are that this results in a balanced tree, which in turncan provide fast query times; while the disadvantages are that dependingon the heuristic picked for insertion, indexing time may be slower, andimplementation of R-trees can be complex. With respect to Quadtrees, theadvantages are that indexing and implementation can be relativelysimple; while the disadvantages are that this results in an unbalancedtree which can slow query times on unbalanced data.

The geographic database 103 can be maintained by the content provider121 in association with the services platform 119 (e.g., a mapdeveloper). The map developer can collect geographic data to generateand enhance the geographic database 103. There can be different waysused by the map developer to collect data. These ways can includeobtaining data from other sources, such as municipalities or respectivegeographic authorities. In addition, the map developer can employ fieldpersonnel to travel by vehicle along roads throughout the geographicregion to observe features and/or record information about them, forexample. Also, remote sensing, such as aerial or satellite photography,can be used.

The geographic database 103 can be a master geographic database storedin a format that facilitates updating, maintenance, and development. Forexample, the master geographic database 103 or data in the mastergeographic database 103 can be in an Oracle spatial format or otherspatial format, such as for development or production purposes. TheOracle spatial format or development/production database can be compiledinto a delivery format, such as a geographic data files (GDF) format.The data in the production and/or delivery formats can be compiled orfurther compiled to form geographic database products or databases,which can be used in end user navigation devices or systems.

For example, geographic data is compiled (such as into a platformspecification format (PSF) format) to organize and/or configure the datafor performing navigation-related functions and/or services, such asroute calculation, route guidance, map display, speed calculation,distance and travel time functions, and other functions, by a navigationdevice, such as by a vehicle 105 or UE 107, for example. Thenavigation-related functions can correspond to vehicle navigation,pedestrian navigation, or other types of navigation. The compilation toproduce the end user databases can be performed by a party or entityseparate from the map developer. For example, a customer of the mapdeveloper, such as a navigation device developer or other end userdevice developer, can perform compilation on a received geographicdatabase in a delivery format to produce one or more compiled navigationdatabases.

As mentioned above, the geographic database 103 can be a mastergeographic database, but in alternate embodiments, the geographicdatabase 103 can represent a compiled navigation database that can beused in or with end user devices (e.g., vehicle 105, UE 107, etc.) toprovide navigation-related functions. For example, the geographicdatabase 103 can be used with the end user device to provide an end userwith navigation features. In such a case, the geographic database 103can be downloaded or stored on the end user device (e.g., vehicle 105,UE 107, etc.), such as in application 113, or the end user device canaccess the geographic database 103 through a wireless or wiredconnection (such as via a server and/or the communication network 111),for example.

In one embodiment, the end user device can be an in-vehicle navigationsystem, a personal navigation device (PND), a portable navigationdevice, a cellular telephone, a mobile phone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a watch, a camera, a computer, and/or other device thatcan perform navigation-related functions, such as digital routing andmap display. In one embodiment, the navigation device (e.g., UE 107) canbe a cellular telephone. An end user can use the device navigationfunctions such as guidance and map display, for example, and fordetermination of route information to at least one identified point ofinterest, according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the components of a map matching platform 101,according to one embodiment. By way of example, the map matchingplatform 101 includes one or more components for node-based map matchingaccording to the various embodiments described herein. It iscontemplated that the functions of these components may be combined orperformed by other components of equivalent functionality. In thisembodiment, the map matching platform 101 includes a probe collectionmodule 401, a node matching module 403, a probe projection module 405,and a mapping module 407. The above presented modules and components ofthe map matching platform 101 can be implemented in hardware, firmware,software, or a combination thereof. Though depicted as a separate entityin FIG. 1, it is contemplated that the map matching platform 101 may beimplemented as a module of any of the components of the system 100(e.g., a component of the vehicle 105 and/or the UE 107). In anotherembodiment, one or more of the modules 401-407 may be implemented as acloud based service, local service, native application, or combinationthereof. The functions of these modules are discussed with respect toFIGS. 5-7 below.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process for selecting probe data fornode-based map matching, according to one embodiment. In variousembodiments, the map matching platform 101 and/or any of the modules401-407 of the map matching platform 101 as shown in FIG. 4 may performone or more portions of the process 500 and may be implemented in, forinstance, a chip set including a processor and a memory as shown in FIG.9. As such, the map matching platform 101 and/or the modules 401-407 canprovide means for accomplishing various parts of the process 500, aswell as means for accomplishing embodiments of other processes describedherein in conjunction with other components of the system 100. Althoughthe process 500 is illustrated and described as a sequence of steps, itscontemplated that various embodiments of the process 500 may beperformed in any order or combination and need not include all of theillustrated steps.

In one embodiment, the process 500 illustrates example pre-processingsteps to prepare probe data for node-based map matching according to thevarious embodiments described herein.

In step 501, the probe collection module 401 collects and sorts probepoints into location traces or sessions. As previously described, theprobe points can be included in probe data collected from a geographicarea delineated by a selected map tile (e.g., when using a tile-baseddigital map representation) and/or any other selected geographicboundary. The probe data collection module 401 then processes the probedata to sort the plurality of probe points of the probe data into one ormore location traces. In one embodiment, the each probe point in alocation trace can be labeled or identified to indicate that they aregrouped or sorted into a common location trace or session. The probecollection module 401, for instance, can create a unique session key toassociate with or identify each probe point in a particular locationtrace or session. The collected and sorted probe points can be storedin, for instance, a spatial index as described above or any otherequivalent data structure.

In step 503, the mapping module 407 can prepare map data to identify thelinks between nodes or other location points occurring in the selectedmap tile or geographic area from which the probe data was collected andsorted. In one embodiment, the links and nodes of the selected map tileor geographic area are part of a node-link map representation and can bequeried or determined from the geographic database 103.

In one embodiment, the map matching platform 101 can use the identifiedlinks and nodes to perform node-based map matching in a stepwise orlooped manner that traverses the a given area of the digital map (e.g.,the selected map tile or geographic area) on a node-by-node basis untilall nodes in the area are processed (e.g., when performing bulkingmatching of probe points). Accordingly, in step 505, the node matchingmodule 403 selects a subset of the plurality of probe points within athreshold distance of a node or location point of a map representationof a transportation network. For example, the node matching module 403traverses the node list generated for the selected map tile or area, toselect probe points within a search radius (e.g., a predetermined ordynamic radius) of each node for further processing according to theprocesses described below. In one embodiment, the selected probe pointsfor each node can be indicated in the spatial index or other datastructured discussed above.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for node-based map matching,according to one embodiment. In various embodiments, the map matchingplatform 101 and/or any of the modules 401-407 of the map matchingplatform 101 as shown in FIG. 4 may perform one or more portions of theprocess 600 and may be implemented in, for instance, a chip setincluding a processor and a memory as shown in FIG. 9. As such, the mapmatching platform 101 and/or the modules 401-407 can provide means foraccomplishing various parts of the process 600, as well as means foraccomplishing embodiments of other processes described herein inconjunction with other components of the system 100. Although theprocess 600 is illustrated and described as a sequence of steps, itscontemplated that various embodiments of the process 600 may beperformed in any order or combination and need not include all of theillustrated steps.

In one embodiment, the process 600 can be performed following one ormore of the pre-processing steps described with respect to the process500 of FIG. 5. For example, in one embodiment, the process 600 beginsafter the map matching platform 101 has selected the sorted probe pointsfalling within a distance threshold or search radius of each node. Thispre-selection means, for instance, that the embodiments of node-basedmap matching process described need to expend computational resources toprocess the location data of only the selected probe points for mapmatching and not all of the individual probe points as would be requiredwhen using a traditional point-based map matcher.

In step 601, the node matching module 403 retrieves the node list of theselected map tile or geographic area (e.g., as generated according tothe process 500 of FIG. 5 above), and evaluates each location point ornode in the node list. In one embodiment, the node matching module 403iterates over the node list on the basis of the location traces orsessions identified in the sorted probe data. For example, for eachlocation trace or session identified, the node matching module 403initiates a node-based map matching of each location trace bydetermining a closest probe point to a target location point or nodebeing evaluated (step 603). In one embodiment, the closest probe pointof each identified location trace or session can be determined from thespatial index or other data structure of the created above. The nodematching module can then associate the closest probe points and theirrespective location traces or sessions (e.g., by using their sessionkeys or other unique identifier of the location trace) with the node ina data structure. In one embodiment, the closest points for each sessioncan be determined and recorded for all nodes on the node list.

In step 605, the node matching module 403 determine another closestprobe point to one or more neighboring nodes or location points. Thisother closest probe point is, for instance, another probe point with thesame session key as the closest probe point of the node currently beingevaluated. Because these probe points share the same session key (i.e.,are part of the same location trace), the map matching platform 101 canassume that the same probe traveled through those nodes or locationpoints. In one embodiment, a neighboring node is connected to the nodecurrently being evaluated by at least one link.

In step 607, the node matching module 403 determines how manyneighboring nodes are detected. In step 609, if there is only oneneighboring node or location point, the node matching module 403interacts with the probe projection module 405 to project the pluralityof probe points between the closest probe point to the node and theanother closest probe point to the neighboring node onto the link to mapmatch the plurality of probe points to the link. In other words, thenode matching module 403 is configured to assume that one probe pointsof the same session or location train are found close to nodes thatdefine the start and end of a link, then the probe points of the samesession or location trace occurring between nodes belong on the linkbecause that is the only travel path available between the link.Accordingly, no additional processing of the middle probe points isperformed by the map matching platform 101 to map match those middleprobe points to the link, other than simply projecting those probepoints onto the link. As described above, in one embodiment, the processof projecting is a transforming of the sensed location coordinates ofeach probe point onto the link to which the map matching platform 101has already determined as the match for that probe point.

In step 611, if there are two neighboring nodes (e.g., with the currentin between the two neighboring nodes), the node matching module 403 canretrieve the respective links for both nodes. The probe projectionmodule 405 can then project all probe points between the two neighboringnodes only the respective links. Alternatively, the node matching module403 can treat each of the two neighboring nodes individually as a singlenode as described with respect to step 607.

In step 613, if there are more than two neighboring nodes, the nodematching module 403 can use any criteria to select two neighboring nodesfrom among the more than two neighboring locations points to perform themap matching. For example, one possible criteria can be based ontimestamp data. Other criteria can include, but limited to, routepopularity, user preference, historical user travel patterns, etc. Inone embodiment, with respect to timestamp data, the node matching module403 can select the two neighboring nodes from among the more than twonodes based on maximizing a time window calculated from the timestampdata. In other words, as discussed above, the node matching module 403can chose two nodes that have the longer time differences between thetimestamps of probe points closest to the current node and the timestampof the neighboring node. By maximizing the time window, the nodematching module 403, for instance, can also maximizing the length of thesession or location trace that are matched to the digital map.

In one embodiment, once the two neighboring nodes are selected, the nodematching module 403 can interact with the probe projection module 405 toproject the probe points on the corresponding links as describe withrespect to step 611 (e.g., the case with exactly two neighboring nodes).For example, the node matching module 403 determines respective linksbetween the selected two neighboring nodes, and then projects theplurality of probe points falling within the time window to therespective links to map match the plurality of probe points to therespective links.

In step 613, the node matching module 403 determines whether there aremore nodes remaining on the node list for the selected map tile or area,and whether to move onto the next node if one exists. For example, ifthere are no neighboring nodes detected for the current node in theiteration, the node matching module 615 can return to step 601 toevaluate the next node on the node list if one exists. In oneembodiment, if there are neighboring nodes with respect to the currentnode and after processing those neighboring nodes and associated probepoints according to steps 607-613, the node matching module 615 canremove any projected probes from the probe list (e.g., the spatial indexof data structure of the collected and sorted probe points for aselected map tile or area) and/or otherwise marked them as “used” or“matched”. The node matching module 403 can then return to step 601 toprocess the next node if one exists. If there is not a next node on thenode list, the node matching module 403 ends the process.

In one embodiment, any probe points remaining after process 600 that arenot marked as “used” or “matched” can be processed using any other mapmatching process (e.g., a traditional point-based map matcher) tocomplete the processing of the probe points.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for evaluating shared links betweenlocation points or nodes to facilitate node-based map matching,according to one embodiment. In various embodiments, the map matchingplatform 101 and/or any of the modules 401-407 of the map matchingplatform 101 as shown in FIG. 4 may perform one or more portions of theprocess 700 and may be implemented in, for instance, a chip setincluding a processor and a memory as shown in FIG. 9. As such, the mapmatching platform 101 and/or the modules 401-407 can provide means foraccomplishing various parts of the process 700, as well as means foraccomplishing embodiments of other processes described herein inconjunction with other components of the system 100. Although theprocess 700 is illustrated and described as a sequence of steps, itscontemplated that various embodiments of the process 700 may beperformed in any order or combination and need not include all of theillustrated steps.

The process 700 presents alternate or additional processes forperforming node-based map matching. In one embodiment, the process 700can be performed following any of the pre-processing steps of theprocess 500 of FIG. 5. In another, the process 700 can be performed incombination with the process 600 of FIG. 6 to process any remainingprobe points that are not marked as “used” or “matched”. In yet anotherembodiment, the process 700 can be performed independently of theprocess 600 of FIG. 6.

In step 701, the probe collection module 401 obtains a sorted probe dataset for a selected map tile or geographic area (e.g., as generatedaccording to the process 500 of FIG. 5). In addition, the sorted probedata set is processed to determine the closest probe points to each nodewith the selected map tile or geographic area (e.g., as determinedaccording to step 603 of the process 600 of FIG. 6). Then, the nodematching module 403 iterates over each location trace or session keyidentified in the sorted probe data. In one embodiment, for everylocation trace or session key identified in the sorted probe data, thenode matching module 403 collects a list nodes that have closest probepoints associated with the session key of the current iteration. Inother words, the node matching module 403 determines all nodes to whichat least one of the plurality of probe points associated with matchedsession key. The node matching module 403 then stores the determinednodes in a node list for the session key.

In step 703, the node matching module 403 sorts or orders the nodes inthe node list according to timestamp data. As discussed above, eachprobe point includes a timestamp indicating the time that the probepoint was collected. Accordingly, by sorting the node list by thistimestamp data, the node matching module 403 creates node list in whichthe sequence of nodes in the list corresponds chronologically with thetravel sequence of probe vehicle or device collecting the probe data. Inother words, the first node on the node list would be the earliestdetected node associated with travel of the probe vehicle for a givensession in the selected map tile or geographic area, and the last nodewould be the latest detected node in the same travel session or locationtrace.

In step 705, the node matching module 403 traverses the ordered nodelist in timestamp order to determine whether said each node has exactlytwo links connected. In other words, the node matching module 403traverses to find a node that has only two links connected. If no suchnode exists in the node list, the node matching module 403 can use anyalternate map matcher to map match the probe points from the session(step 707).

In step 709, if there is a node with exactly two links, the nodematching module 403 selects that node as a starting node from traversingthe ordered node list. For example, the node matching module 403 canstart from the node with exactly two links and travel backward and/orforwards to find the other edge of the node that shares a same link. Inother words, the node matching module 403 traverses said ordered allnodes to determine whether an adjacent node shares at least one of thetwo links connected to the currently selected node in the iteration(step 711).

In step 713, if the adjacent node shares at least one of the two linksconnected to the current node, the node matching module 403 interactswith probe projection module 405 to project the plurality of probepoints between the current node and the adjacent node to the at leastone of the two links that is shared. If the adjacent node does not shareat least one of the two links and there is an earlier or later node inthe list associated with the same session key, there is likely a gapbetween the two nodes. In this case, the node matching module 403performs step 707 to complete the map matching by, for instance, using apoint-based map matcher or any other alternate map matcher for theplurality of probe points falling between said each node and theadjacent node.

In step 715, the node matching module 403 continues the traversal of thelist by moving to the next node on the ordered node list until the endof list is reached. In one embodiment, the node matching module 403 canfirst traverse the list from the node determined to have exactly twolinks backwards in time to the beginning of the list. Once the beginningof the list is reached, the node matching module 403 can return to thestarting node and proceed in a forward traversal to the end of the list.In one embodiment, as each probe point is used and projected to a link,the probe point can be marked as “used” or “matched” so that those probepoints are not reprocessed in subsequent iterations or processes of theembodiments of node-based map matching described herein.

In one embodiment, if any probe points remaining after completing theiteration through the node list have not been marked as “used” or“matched”, the node matching module 403 can process those remainingprobe points using an alternate map matcher (e.g., a traditionalpoint-based map matcher).

The processes described herein for providing node-based map matching ofprobe data may be advantageously implemented via software, hardware(e.g., general processor, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip, anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable GateArrays (FPGAs), etc.), firmware or a combination thereof. Such exemplaryhardware for performing the described functions is detailed below.

FIG. 8 illustrates a computer system 800 upon which an embodiment of theinvention may be implemented. Computer system 800 is programmed (e.g.,via computer program code or instructions) to provide node-based mapmatching of probe data as described herein and includes a communicationmechanism such as a bus 810 for passing information between otherinternal and external components of the computer system 800. Information(also called data) is represented as a physical expression of ameasurable phenomenon, typically electric voltages, but including, inother embodiments, such phenomena as magnetic, electromagnetic,pressure, chemical, biological, molecular, atomic, sub-atomic andquantum interactions. For example, north and south magnetic fields, or azero and non-zero electric voltage, represent two states (0, 1) of abinary digit (bit). Other phenomena can represent digits of a higherbase. A superposition of multiple simultaneous quantum states beforemeasurement represents a quantum bit (qubit). A sequence of one or moredigits constitutes digital data that is used to represent a number orcode for a character. In some embodiments, information called analogdata is represented by a near continuum of measurable values within aparticular range.

A bus 810 includes one or more parallel conductors of information sothat information is transferred quickly among devices coupled to the bus810. One or more processors 802 for processing information are coupledwith the bus 810.

A processor 802 performs a set of operations on information as specifiedby computer program code related to providing node-based map matching ofprobe data. The computer program code is a set of instructions orstatements providing instructions for the operation of the processorand/or the computer system to perform specified functions. The code, forexample, may be written in a computer programming language that iscompiled into a native instruction set of the processor. The code mayalso be written directly using the native instruction set (e.g., machinelanguage). The set of operations include bringing information in fromthe bus 810 and placing information on the bus 810. The set ofoperations also typically include comparing two or more units ofinformation, shifting positions of units of information, and combiningtwo or more units of information, such as by addition or multiplicationor logical operations like OR, exclusive OR (XOR), and AND. Eachoperation of the set of operations that can be performed by theprocessor is represented to the processor by information calledinstructions, such as an operation code of one or more digits. Asequence of operations to be executed by the processor 802, such as asequence of operation codes, constitute processor instructions, alsocalled computer system instructions or, simply, computer instructions.Processors may be implemented as mechanical, electrical, magnetic,optical, chemical or quantum components, among others, alone or incombination.

Computer system 800 also includes a memory 804 coupled to bus 810. Thememory 804, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamicstorage device, stores information including processor instructions forproviding node-based map matching of probe data. Dynamic memory allowsinformation stored therein to be changed by the computer system 800. RAMallows a unit of information stored at a location called a memoryaddress to be stored and retrieved independently of information atneighboring addresses. The memory 804 is also used by the processor 802to store temporary values during execution of processor instructions.The computer system 800 also includes a read only memory (ROM) 806 orother static storage device coupled to the bus 810 for storing staticinformation, including instructions, that is not changed by the computersystem 800. Some memory is composed of volatile storage that loses theinformation stored thereon when power is lost. Also coupled to bus 810is a non-volatile (persistent) storage device 808, such as a magneticdisk, optical disk or flash card, for storing information, includinginstructions, that persists even when the computer system 800 is turnedoff or otherwise loses power.

Information, including instructions for providing node-based mapmatching of probe data, is provided to the bus 810 for use by theprocessor from an external input device 812, such as a keyboardcontaining alphanumeric keys operated by a human user, or a sensor. Asensor detects conditions in its vicinity and transforms thosedetections into physical expression compatible with the measurablephenomenon used to represent information in computer system 800. Otherexternal devices coupled to bus 810, used primarily for interacting withhumans, include a display device 814, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT)or a liquid crystal display (LCD), or plasma screen or printer forpresenting text or images, and a pointing device 816, such as a mouse ora trackball or cursor direction keys, or motion sensor, for controllinga position of a small cursor image presented on the display 814 andissuing commands associated with graphical elements presented on thedisplay 814. In some embodiments, for example, in embodiments in whichthe computer system 800 performs all functions automatically withouthuman input, one or more of external input device 812, display device814 and pointing device 816 is omitted.

In the illustrated embodiment, special purpose hardware, such as anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 820, is coupled to bus810. The special purpose hardware is configured to perform operationsnot performed by processor 802 quickly enough for special purposes.Examples of application specific ICs include graphics accelerator cardsfor generating images for display 814, cryptographic boards forencrypting and decrypting messages sent over a network, speechrecognition, and interfaces to special external devices, such as roboticarms and medical scanning equipment that repeatedly perform some complexsequence of operations that are more efficiently implemented inhardware.

Computer system 800 also includes one or more instances of acommunications interface 870 coupled to bus 810. Communication interface870 provides a one-way or two-way communication coupling to a variety ofexternal devices that operate with their own processors, such asprinters, scanners and external disks. In general the coupling is with anetwork link 878 that is connected to a local network 880 to which avariety of external devices with their own processors are connected. Forexample, communication interface 870 may be a parallel port or a serialport or a universal serial bus (USB) port on a personal computer. Insome embodiments, communications interface 870 is an integrated servicesdigital network (ISDN) card or a digital subscriber line (DSL) card or atelephone modem that provides an information communication connection toa corresponding type of telephone line. In some embodiments, acommunication interface 870 is a cable modem that converts signals onbus 810 into signals for a communication connection over a coaxial cableor into optical signals for a communication connection over a fiberoptic cable. As another example, communications interface 870 may be alocal area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connectionto a compatible LAN, such as Ethernet. Wireless links may also beimplemented. For wireless links, the communications interface 870 sendsor receives or both sends and receives electrical, acoustic orelectromagnetic signals, including infrared and optical signals, thatcarry information streams, such as digital data. For example, inwireless handheld devices, such as mobile telephones like cell phones,the communications interface 870 includes a radio band electromagnetictransmitter and receiver called a radio transceiver. In certainembodiments, the communications interface 870 enables connection to thecommunication network 111 for providing node-based map matching of probedata.

The term computer-readable medium is used herein to refer to any mediumthat participates in providing information to processor 802, includinginstructions for execution. Such a medium may take many forms,including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media andtransmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical ormagnetic disks, such as storage device 808. Volatile media include, forexample, dynamic memory 804. Transmission media include, for example,coaxial cables, copper wire, fiber optic cables, and carrier waves thattravel through space without wires or cables, such as acoustic waves andelectromagnetic waves, including radio, optical and infrared waves.Signals include man-made transient variations in amplitude, frequency,phase, polarization or other physical properties transmitted through thetransmission media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, forexample, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, anyother magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD, any other optical medium,punch cards, paper tape, optical mark sheets, any other physical mediumwith patterns of holes or other optically recognizable indicia, a RAM, aPROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, acarrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

FIG. 9 illustrates a chip set 900 upon which an embodiment of theinvention may be implemented. Chip set 900 is programmed to providenode-based map matching of probe data as described herein and includes,for instance, the processor and memory components described with respectto FIG. 8 incorporated in one or more physical packages (e.g., chips).By way of example, a physical package includes an arrangement of one ormore materials, components, and/or wires on a structural assembly (e.g.,a baseboard) to provide one or more characteristics such as physicalstrength, conservation of size, and/or limitation of electricalinteraction. It is contemplated that in certain embodiments the chip setcan be implemented in a single chip.

In one embodiment, the chip set 900 includes a communication mechanismsuch as a bus 901 for passing information among the components of thechip set 900. A processor 903 has connectivity to the bus 901 to executeinstructions and process information stored in, for example, a memory905. The processor 903 may include one or more processing cores witheach core configured to perform independently. A multi-core processorenables multiprocessing within a single physical package. Examples of amulti-core processor include two, four, eight, or greater numbers ofprocessing cores. Alternatively or in addition, the processor 903 mayinclude one or more microprocessors configured in tandem via the bus 901to enable independent execution of instructions, pipelining, andmultithreading. The processor 903 may also be accompanied with one ormore specialized components to perform certain processing functions andtasks such as one or more digital signal processors (DSP) 907, or one ormore application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) 909. A DSP 907typically is configured to process real-world signals (e.g., sound) inreal time independently of the processor 903. Similarly, an ASIC 909 canbe configured to performed specialized functions not easily performed bya general purposed processor. Other specialized components to aid inperforming the inventive functions described herein include one or morefield programmable gate arrays (FPGA) (not shown), one or morecontrollers (not shown), or one or more other special-purpose computerchips.

The processor 903 and accompanying components have connectivity to thememory 905 via the bus 901. The memory 905 includes both dynamic memory(e.g., RAM, magnetic disk, writable optical disk, etc.) and staticmemory (e.g., ROM, CD-ROM, etc.) for storing executable instructionsthat when executed perform the inventive steps described herein toprovide node-based map matching of probe data. The memory 905 alsostores the data associated with or generated by the execution of theinventive steps.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of exemplary components of a mobile station (e.g.,handset) capable of operating in the system of FIG. 1, according to oneembodiment. Generally, a radio receiver is often defined in terms offront-end and back-end characteristics. The front-end of the receiverencompasses all of the Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry whereas theback-end encompasses all of the base-band processing circuitry.Pertinent internal components of the telephone include a Main ControlUnit (MCU) 1003, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 1005, and areceiver/transmitter unit including a microphone gain control unit and aspeaker gain control unit. A main display unit 1007 provides a displayto the user in support of various applications and mobile stationfunctions that offer automatic contact matching. An audio functioncircuitry 1009 includes a microphone 1011 and microphone amplifier thatamplifies the speech signal output from the microphone 1011. Theamplified speech signal output from the microphone 1011 is fed to acoder/decoder (CODEC) 1013.

A radio section 1015 amplifies power and converts frequency in order tocommunicate with a base station, which is included in a mobilecommunication system, via antenna 1017. The power amplifier (PA) 1019and the transmitter/modulation circuitry are operationally responsive tothe MCU 1003, with an output from the PA 1019 coupled to the duplexer1021 or circulator or antenna switch, as known in the art. The PA 1019also couples to a battery interface and power control unit 1020.

In use, a user of mobile station 1001 speaks into the microphone 1011and his or her voice along with any detected background noise isconverted into an analog voltage. The analog voltage is then convertedinto a digital signal through the Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)1023. The control unit 1003 routes the digital signal into the DSP 1005for processing therein, such as speech encoding, channel encoding,encrypting, and interleaving. In one embodiment, the processed voicesignals are encoded, by units not separately shown, using a cellulartransmission protocol such as global evolution (EDGE), general packetradio service (GPRS), global system for mobile communications (GSM),Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS), universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS), etc., as well as any other suitablewireless medium, e.g., microwave access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution(LTE) networks, code division multiple access (CDMA), wireless fidelity(WiFi), satellite, and the like.

The encoded signals are then routed to an equalizer 1025 forcompensation of any frequency-dependent impairments that occur duringtransmission though the air such as phase and amplitude distortion.After equalizing the bit stream, the modulator 1027 combines the signalwith a RF signal generated in the RF interface 1029. The modulator 1027generates a sine wave by way of frequency or phase modulation. In orderto prepare the signal for transmission, an up-converter 1031 combinesthe sine wave output from the modulator 1027 with another sine wavegenerated by a synthesizer 1033 to achieve the desired frequency oftransmission. The signal is then sent through a PA 1019 to increase thesignal to an appropriate power level. In practical systems, the PA 1019acts as a variable gain amplifier whose gain is controlled by the DSP1005 from information received from a network base station. The signalis then filtered within the duplexer 1021 and optionally sent to anantenna coupler 1035 to match impedances to provide maximum powertransfer. Finally, the signal is transmitted via antenna 1017 to a localbase station. An automatic gain control (AGC) can be supplied to controlthe gain of the final stages of the receiver. The signals may beforwarded from there to a remote telephone which may be another cellulartelephone, other mobile phone or a land-line connected to a PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), or other telephony networks.

Voice signals transmitted to the mobile station 1001 are received viaantenna 1017 and immediately amplified by a low noise amplifier (LNA)1037. A down-converter 1039 lowers the carrier frequency while thedemodulator 1041 strips away the RF leaving only a digital bit stream.The signal then goes through the equalizer 1025 and is processed by theDSP 1005. A Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) 1043 converts the signaland the resulting output is transmitted to the user through the speaker1045, all under control of a Main Control Unit (MCU) 1003—which can beimplemented as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) (not shown).

The MCU 1003 receives various signals including input signals from thekeyboard 1047. The keyboard 1047 and/or the MCU 1003 in combination withother user input components (e.g., the microphone 1011) comprise a userinterface circuitry for managing user input. The MCU 1003 runs a userinterface software to facilitate user control of at least some functionsof the mobile station 1001 to provide node-based map matching of probedata. The MCU 1003 also delivers a display command and a switch commandto the display 1007 and to the speech output switching controller,respectively. Further, the MCU 1003 exchanges information with the DSP1005 and can access an optionally incorporated SIM card 1049 and amemory 1051. In addition, the MCU 1003 executes various controlfunctions required of the station. The DSP 1005 may, depending upon theimplementation, perform any of a variety of conventional digitalprocessing functions on the voice signals. Additionally, DSP 1005determines the background noise level of the local environment from thesignals detected by microphone 1011 and sets the gain of microphone 1011to a level selected to compensate for the natural tendency of the userof the mobile station 1001.

The CODEC 1013 includes the ADC 1023 and DAC 1043. The memory 1051stores various data including call incoming tone data and is capable ofstoring other data including music data received via, e.g., the globalInternet. The software module could reside in RAM memory, flash memory,registers, or any other form of writable computer-readable storagemedium known in the art including non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium. For example, the memory device 1051 may be, but notlimited to, a single memory, CD, DVD, ROM, RAM, EEPROM, optical storage,or any other non-volatile or non-transitory storage medium capable ofstoring digital data.

An optionally incorporated SIM card 1049 carries, for instance,important information, such as the cellular phone number, the carriersupplying service, subscription details, and security information. TheSIM card 1049 serves primarily to identify the mobile station 1001 on aradio network. The card 1049 also contains a memory for storing apersonal telephone number registry, text messages, and user specificmobile station settings.

While the invention has been described in connection with a number ofembodiments and implementations, the invention is not so limited butcovers various obvious modifications and equivalent arrangements, whichfall within the purview of the appended claims. Although features of theinvention are expressed in certain combinations among the claims, it iscontemplated that these features can be arranged in any combination andorder.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for map matchingprobe data comprising: determining a first probe point in proximity to astart node of a road link; determining a second probe point in proximityto an end node of the road link, wherein the second probe point isidentified by a same session key as the first probe point; and mapmatching one or more other probe points with the same session key andoccurring between the first probe point and the second probe point tothe road link.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting amap tile representation of a digital map, wherein the first probe point,the second probe point, the one or more other probe points, or acombination thereof are collected from a geographic area represented bythe map tile representation.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein a zoomlevel of the map tile representation is selectable.
 4. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the first probe point, the second probe point, the oneor more other probe points are collected from within a specified searchradius.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the specified search radius isa dynamic search radius.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the dynamicsearch radius is based on a location sensor accuracy, a road density, aurban/rural attribute, a presence of tall buildings, a number ofavailable probe points, or a combination thereof.
 7. The method of claim4, wherein the specified search radius is determined a node-by-nodebasis.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified search radius isa static search radius.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:selecting a geographic area to map match, wherein the first probe point,the second probe point, the one or more other probe points, or acombination thereof are collected from the geographic area.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the same session key corresponds to a routetraveled by a collecting probe.
 11. An apparatus for map matching probedata comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memoryincluding computer program code for one or more programs, the at leastone memory and the computer program code configured to, with the atleast one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least thefollowing, determine a first probe point in proximity to a start node ofa road link; determine a second probe point in proximity to an end nodeof the road link, wherein the second probe point is identified by a samesession key as the first probe point; and map match one or more otherprobe points with the same session key and occurring between the firstprobe point and the second probe point to the road link.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:select a map tile representation of a digital map, wherein the firstprobe point, the second probe point, the one or more other probe points,or a combination thereof are collected from a geographic arearepresented by the map tile representation.
 13. The apparatus of claim12, wherein a zoom level of the map tile representation is selectable.14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first probe point, the secondprobe point, the one or more other probe points are collected fromwithin a specified search radius.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14, whereinthe specified search radius is a dynamic search radius.
 16. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium for map matching probedata carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which,when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at leastperform the following steps: determining a first probe point inproximity to a start node of a road link; determining a second probepoint in proximity to an end node of the road link, wherein the secondprobe point is identified by a same session key as the first probepoint; and map matching one or more other probe points with the samesession key and occurring between the first probe point and the secondprobe point to the road link.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is further caused toperform: selecting a map tile representation of a digital map, whereinthe first probe point, the second probe point, the one or more otherprobe points, or a combination thereof are collected from a geographicarea represented by the map tile representation.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein a zoom level ofthe map tile representation is selectable.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first probepoint, the second probe point, the one or more other probe points arecollected from within a specified search radius.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the specifiedsearch radius is a dynamic search radius.